What kind of battery for old minolta film camera?

Just came across an old Minolta srTmc film camera. Ive only ever used digital. I am surprised to see that film cameras use batteries.

The battery in thd camera now says 625 which i cant find and i read they dont make. What battery can i use? And what does the

battery do?

<p>In the SRT cameras, the battery just powers the light meter. The camera can be used without a battery if you use a separate light meter or just estimate exposures by rule-of-thumb methods.</p>

<p>You can't get mercury 625 cells in some countries anymore for environmental reasons, but you can still get alkaline cells such as the Kodak 625A. However, the mercury cells the camera was designed to use gave 1.35V, while the modern alkaline cells for some reason give 1.5V. This difference will throw off the meter. You can use 1.3V zinc-air hearing-aid batteries for better accuracy, or you can have the camera modified to use 1.5V batteries. Another thing to be aware of, though, is that the nice thing about mercury cells was that they delivered a very stable 1.35V until they died, whereas the voltage levels of alkaline cells tends to drop off gradually throughout their lifetimes. This means that with an alkaline cell the meter's accuracy will degrade as the battery gradually drops its voltage.</p>

<p>The battery only powers the light meter. On the bottom you'll see a recessed "button" you can turn to 'bc' which means battery check. If the needle lines up with a little tab in the viewfinder your battery is still good. The original was mercury and as you discovered no longer available. Replacements are zinc but expensive for short life. Some people use hearing aid batteries (cheap) and 0-rings to get them to fit. You can google this and find lots of advice. There are alkaline replacements but the problem is over time their voltage drops and the meter gradually loses accuracy. But probably good enough for negatives.</p>

<p>The silver oxide cell, 1.55 volts, gives a constant output similar to that of the mercury cell. However, the SR44 is rather smaller than the 625.</p>

<p>Craig said it better than I did while I was still typing.</p>

Thank you

<p>There is a US $ 30 adapter you can buy that will drop the voltage on a silver oxide cell to the correct level and ensures a proper fit. Might be more expensive than the camera though!</p>

<p>Search on Google for "Frans de Gruijter". He is a Dutch fibre optics engineer who used to sell finished adapters as well as kits. He may well be a Photo.Net member also. I had three of his adapters. They were not too expensive and they worked well.</p>

<p>a color print film is fairly tolerant as far as exposure.<br>

the old "sunny 16 "rule can be used<br>

meaning if the film iso 200 a shutter speed of 200<br>

at a lens opening is correct for a normal sunny<br>

day. Of course you DO NOT have a sutter speed of 200.<br>

only 125th sec and 250th sec. The faster one 1/250 lets in less light.<br>

so you use 1/250 and open the lens to between f/11 & f/16<br>

fortunatly the settings are either halving or doubling the amoput of light<br>

BOTH for the shutter and the lens opening.</p>

<p>But the previous comments about batteries is absolutely correct.<br>

most of us cheapskates use the hearing aid battery.<br>

it behaves like the old mercury battery by being stable until it does.<br>

But it may have a lifespan of only a few months.<br>

the voltage will be close to 1.4v nery close to what the camera wants to see.<br>

and will give good results.<br>

Slide film is fussy about exposure. and should be avoided until you gain experience.<br>

Remeber that a color negative';s resolution is much greater<br>

that digital. It may be reasonable to say a 35mm color neg<br>

may be roughly equivalent to 10mp or even more.<br>

so a color negative can make quite a big enlargement.<br>

because you may only have 24 or 36 exposures<br>

you are forced to be more casreful<br>

Developing and printing costs From $7.00 ( walmart sentd out to Fuji or dwayenes)<br>

to $10.00 typical price</p>

<p> </p>

<p>My advice is to forget about battery. Even with the correct battery the SRT meter isn't all that accurate. Just learn to estimate exposure, it's more fun and believe me in a short time it will give you better result than the meter.</p>

<p>I'm all in favor of people learning to shoot without a meter, but my experience with Minolta meters has apparently been more favorable than BeBu's. I picked up an SRT-201 recently and had it serviced by <a href="http://www.ictcamera.com/">International Camera Technicians</a> in Mountain View, California. At my request, they also modified the camera to take 1.5V batteries. The meter is now quite reliable under a variety of circumstances. The meters in my other Minolta cameras (XK, XE-7, XD-11, X-370) are also very good.</p>

Thsnk you to everypne who responded.

<p>The SRT MC took the PX625 mercury batteries. These batteries put out 1.35 volts.</p>

<p>Today you can use a Wein cell battery that puts out 1.35 volts and has a similar discharge rate.</p>

<p>Do a Google search for "Wein cell PX625 replacement MRB625".</p>

<p>The light meters on my older Minolta cameras are quite accurate.</p>